SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a crucial part of online marketing.
SEO is a long-term process. If we compare SEO with other digital marketing methods such as PPC, SEO takes quite a long to generate results. However, it’s worth it.
Once your website manages to get a high search ranking and traffic from targeted keywords, you just have to sit and see sales coming in.
How long it would take to get traffic through SEO depends mainly on the competition. If you are in a competitive niche, it may take even longer to see significant results.
SEO indeed is a great way to grow your brand and generate more leads. The problem is many SEO agencies still work on old tactics that aren’t relevant anymore.
With the wrong strategy, you may spend so much time performing various SEO activities and still not get results.
To get the best out of your SEO strategy, you need to make sure it is focused on user experience and the latest algorithm updates.
If you have outsourced your website’s SEO work to any agency or company, take into account these signs.
1. Link building strategy
No doubt link building is a crucial part of SEO. The important thing is the quality of the links. In order to rank your website faster, you will need backlinks from authority websites.
The chances are your SEO agency might be acquiring links from low authority or irrelevant websites. In that case, no matter how many links your website gets, it won’t move the needle.
If your SEO agency is purchasing cheap links from platforms like Fiverr, it is also a sign you should switch your SEO agency.
2. Ranking for the wrong keywords
It’s not about how much traffic your website is getting, it’s about how much targeted traffic your website is getting. It’s the SEO professional’s job to target and optimize relevant keywords.
With the wrong SEO strategy, your website may end up ranking for the wrong keywords. As a result, you may see increased traffic but a poor conversion rate.
3. Your agency offers cheap pricing
SEO is not all about changing titles & descriptions and placing some keywords. It’s about understanding user intent, doing competitive analysis, content marketing, and so much more. In short, SEO requires a lot of time, money, and effort. While cheap SEO plans can be attention-grabbing, they can’t generate real results.
Agencies offering SEO at cheap prices save their time and effort through shortcuts. For example, they use PBNs (private blog networks) for link building rather than following genuine methods like guest posting and HARO (hire a reporter out).
4. Their own website is not in order
We often come across websites of SEO agencies claiming they have a team of SEO experts and can rank websites fast. The surprising thing is their own websites are not SEO-optimized. How can you expect someone with a poorly-optimized website to help you get higher rankings?
5. They don’t ask you for anything
SEO isn’t the same for all businesses. What most people think is their website will start ranking at the top of Google once they perform several SEO activities. To make SEO marketing work, it’s essential to prepare a solid strategy. These include understanding the target audience, analyzing competitors, understanding products, and a lot more.
If any SEO company gets ready to work without knowing about your business and understanding your current SEO performance, it would probably be providing generic, outdated SEO services.
6. Transactional relationship
There are two kinds of SEO companies: one that cares only about payments you make every month, and the second that is genuinely interested in helping you grow.
You need to hire an SEO company that is really interested in growing your business organically, and not just maintaining the transactional relationship.
7. Your website gets a manual penalty
A manual penalty is the worst thing that can happen to a website. Websites not following Google Webmaster Guidelines get hit by a manual penalty.
The chances are your SEO company might be implementing wrong or outdated SEO practices. These include getting links from low-authority websites, PBN links, links from irrelevant websites, duplicate content, and thin content.
If your website gets a manual penalty after hiring a new SEO agency a few months back, it’s probably because the SEO agency might be doing something wrong.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to digital marketing, SEO is considered the result-effective marketing method. The beauty of SEO is it can help to drive tons of customers without spending any money on ads.
The main problem is, it takes time. It can take a lot more when the wrong strategy is implemented.
So, if you have outsourced your website’s SEO, make sure you are working with the right company.
For any queries, contact us at support@encircletechnologies.com
Also Read: SEO Vs Paid Search: Which One To Choose?
